Down Under Series

This case study illustrates how four simple words in a newspaper notice and DNA evidence became the key to unlocking Great Granny’s Irish roots. The research journey began with the cryptic phrase “Toowoomba papers please copy” in an 1886 death notice. This small clue directed the research to the Hanlon family in another location hundreds of kilometres away, with DNA evidence crucial to confirm the connection back to Kilkenny, Ireland. The presentation highlights the importance of scrutinising every detail in historical documents, no matter how small, and explores techniques for following unexpected leads across disparate locations, combining traditional research with DNA analysis.

Divorce in Queensland Australia was very difficult to obtain. Some couples then just lived together and some underwent a bigamous marriage. What were the penalties? The records? Follow these ten bigamy case studies.

New record images create the most complete set of records to identify the over 5.5 million soldiers served in the British Army during World War I. This is a large topic, but research has gotten easier during the last couple of years as original resources and indexes have become available online, and new finding aids have been created. This lecture examines what records were destroyed during WWII, what records survived along with how to use the new indexes, online originals and how to interpret them. Plus put the soldier’s actions into battle context.

This presentation looks at what resources are available in Australia’s national, state and local libraries for family history research. Many state and local history and heritage resources are only available at the library. Find out what you might be missing.

Are you a dedicated genealogist seeking ways to optimize your research process? Join us for an enlightening webinar, “Efficient Genealogy: Streamline Your Research with TextExpander!” In this one-hour session, we’ll delve into the powerful capabilities of TextExpander and how it can revolutionize your genealogy workflow. Imagine effortlessly creating perfectly formatted citations, enhancing the quality of your research logs, and drastically reducing the time you spend typing. As a professional genealogist, Christine will guide you through hands-on demonstrations, showcasing how you can create citation templates and text snippets with TextExpander that can save you hours while improving the precision of your work. Whether you’re an experienced researcher or just starting your genealogy journey, this webinar is your gateway to a more efficient and rewarding genealogy experience. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to streamline your research process and make the most of your valuable time. Join us and discover how TextExpander can truly transform the way you approach genealogy!

It is wonderful to uncover the facts of an ancestor’s life, but putting a face to a name is the most amazing discovery of all. Expand your search for your ancestor’s faces with these ten “unexpected” online resources!

Explore your New Zealand family history a little further and add to your family story.

This webinar demonstrates how Eliza Watson traced her Coffey ancestry line back eight generations from southwest Wisconsin to Ireland in 1705. An amazing feat due to the lack of Irish historical records. Her success was thanks to a newfound Irish Daly relation, extensive cemetery research, and a local historian. The webinar provides creative ways to break down an Irish research brick wall.

Do you know the difference between a Peculiar Baptist and an Anabaptist? What types of records the Quakers kept? What the Puritans believed? Understanding the background to and the beliefs of the multitude of non-conformist churches can give us an insight into our ancestors’ lives. Learning what records the various groups kept can give us a new lead for our research, or prevent us looking for records that never existed in the first place. This talk will not only tackle those questions, but also give a history of many of the non-conformist churches that existed in England and Wales.

The records of churches and congregations in Australia are spread across a range of different archival repositories at local, state and national levels. Come on a journey to find what records might help develop your family history and genealogy, where those records live, and how to access them.

Exploring the life of a convict ancestor can be exciting but also a daunting task. This webinar leads participants through a methodical examination of the records available at various stages of a convict’s life from trial through to freedom. After developing a framework for investigation, case studies are then used to demonstrate the various records available and where to find them, including both within Australia and overseas. Issues such as record conflicts and understanding the broader social context will also be explored to more fully understand changes in terminology and record types.

Many Australians will have a soldier or sailor somewhere in their family tree, particularly from the 20th century onwards. Finding those ancestors who served in Australian contingents during World War One or Two for example, is a relatively straightforward process, mainly because the records are mostly available in Australian archives. However, once the search moves back into the 19th or 18th century, then it can become a more complicated puzzle. This presentation provides an overview of the military history of Europe during the 19th and 18th centuries and outlines the range of records which are available, such as those at The National Archives (UK) in particular as well as Australian archives and military museums and an increasing number of online resources. The wealth of detail will help reveal the life of your military ancestor and may even be able to take your research back into the 18th century.